It has been one of the more viral talking points in football where Nebraska football star Dylan Raiola has been said by fans to “cosplay” Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. While Raiola opened up about it himself, Mahomes as well spoke about Raiola taking some inspiration in his look for him and had a positive outlook on it.
As Mahomes and Kansas City is preparing for their second regular game of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals next Sunday, he spoke to the media about Raiola who has been emerging as one of college football’s more exciting players at the position. He would put himself in Raiola’s shoes and said that he “was that guy” when looking up to his favorite athletes and even knows the Cornhuskers star personally growing up according to a video from Jared Koller on X, formerly Twitter.
“I mean, it’s cool. Honestly, I was that guy. I grew up watching players,” Mahomes said. “I remember being when I would grow up. I was, I loved Alex Rodriguez, played shortstop, and would try to make plays just like him, and do stuff like that, and it helped me become the athlete that I am. And so I’ve kind of, it’s just telling me I’m getting a little old. I think that’s the biggest thing, is that you have these guys that are coming up and doing some of the sidearm stuff and everything like that. But I know Dylan, I train with them in the off seasons, great kid, a great football player, and I think he’s gonna make his own stamp on the game. And I think you’ve seen that early in his career.”
Patrick Mahomes on #Huskers QB Dylan Raiola:
"It's cool, honestly. I was that guy, grew up watching players. I loved A-Rod, played SS, would try to make plays just like him. It helped me become the athlete that I am. It's just telling me I'm getting a little old." #ChiefsKingdom pic.twitter.com/0Fi9lMRzv3— Jared Koller (@JaredKCTV5) September 11, 2024
Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes praises Dylan Raiola more in freshman year
The Nebraska football team is currently 2-0 under Raiola in his freshman year, coming off of a dominant win over the Colorado Buffaloes last Saturday, 28-10. Mahomes would say that Raiola is composing himself in the “right way to play the positon” as he has a team-first approach.
“I think I don’t know if, whenever you come in as a freshman, you want to be on Twitter, I think he wants it to be about his team,” Mahomes said. “And I think that’s the right way to play the quarterback position is that it’s not about you, it’s about going out there and having success as as a team and they’ve done that so far this year so even though I think he just kind of wants to push us on play football, and go out there and win it football games and I think that’s the right way to play the position.”
People were noticing the countless similarities between Raiola and Mahomes in the way they dress, celebrate, and even the No. 15 that both of them wear. However, Raiola would even say that the number is more in honor of former Florida Gators legend Tim Tebow and not of Mahomes.
“No, I wore 15 my first year of football, actually. (In honor of) Tim Tebow,” Raiola said in a Bleacher Report video. “A strong Christian person, played football at Florida. I look up to people that have good character and are a good person. He was that guy at the time.”
At any rate, Mahomes and the Chiefs prepare for the Bengals Sunday.
